Christmas Family Style in Savannah: A Garlucci Family Saga Novel (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Bo by Hope Callaghan (summer reading list txt) 📕

When they reached the end of the tunnel where it “T’d” off, Elvira shined her flashlight to the left. “That’s the way you and Dernice took.” She shined it in the opposite direction. “Down here is the area I’m trying to access.”

There was a scuttling sound, and Carlita cringed, certain that at any moment, a huge tunnel rat was going to land on her head.

“I saw a rat the other day.” Elvira held her hands six inches apart. “He had to be that big.”

The scuttling sound echoed again, and Carlita wondered if the rat was following them.

“I can handle a lot of things, but rats aren’t one of them. I screamed, not one of those girlie screams, but loud.” Elvira let out a loud yelp, so loud Carlita’s ears started ringing. “Like that. I think I scared both of us.”

Heavy steps echoed behind them. Luigi appeared, gun drawn. “What’s goin’ on? I heard someone screaming.”

“It was me,” Elvira said. “I was telling Carlita about my encounter with Ralph the Rat.”

Luigi relaxed his grip. “Don’t scream like that again unless you’re in trouble.”

“Sorry.”

He tucked the weapon in his waistband. “Now that I’m here, I might as well keep an eye on you.”

They took twenty steps forward before Elvira abruptly stopped. She shined her light against the tunnel wall. “Check this out.”

Carlita inched forward. “What am I looking at?”

“This.”

There was a crude carving on the side of the wall.

“It looks like a map.”

“That’s what I thought,” Elvira said excitedly. “This is the map I mentioned to Pete. See the wavy part? It looks like water and maybe even a treasure chest.”

Carlita wasn’t as convinced as Elvira that it was a treasure map, but it was some sort of diagram, and there were waves, which could easily be interpreted as water.

“I’ve been digging around online trying to research ships and lost treasures, but nothing is coming up.” Elvira continued walking. “I’m still thinking, maybe I should show this to Pete. The two of us could work together to try to figure out if this is authentic. Since he happens to have a ship, we could put together a search and recovery dive team to comb the waters.”

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Elvira’s eyes lit. “I can see it now…‘Investigator Elvira Cobb makes a twenty-first century discovery of a sunken pirate ship.’”

“I…it’s something worth looking into,” Carlita agreed.

“Let’s keep moving.” At the end of the tunnel, Elvira stopped again. “The pirate treasure map is only part of my exciting discovery.”

Chapter 19

Elvira illuminated a small hole nearly the size of a baseball in the brick wall. “There’s something back here.”

Carlita peered into the hole. “I don’t see anything.”

“Look to the left.”

Carlita shifted her gaze and spotted an object. “There’s something on the ground.”

“Yep, and if my calculations are correct, my basement is on the other side.”

“You need to research the structural integrity of the wall,” Carlita reminded her.

“Right. There’s that.” Elvira handed Luigi the flashlight. “Hang onto this.” She pulled a small pickax from her pocket and began chipping away at the wall.

“That is going to take you forever.”

“Maybe. I have patience.” Elvira continued to pick at the hole. “I only need to make it large enough to get a clear visual. Then, I’ll know if I’m wasting my time busting through here. Who knows? I might find the next Sutton Hoo.”

Chip. Chip.

“Sutton who?” Luigi grunted.

Elvira stopped chipping and stared at him in disbelief. “You’ve never heard of Sutton Hoo?”

“I haven’t either,” Carlita said.

“Sutton Hoo, Suffolk was only the location of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the early 1900s.” She continued chipping as she talked. “The owner of the property, Edith something or other, contacted an archaeologist to investigate some burial mounds on her property.”

Elvira told them the archaeologist, Basil Brown, uncovered an intact imprint of a ship, roughly eighty-six feet long.

“And it was filled with what?” Carlita asked.

“The richest haul of priceless objects in our lifetime,” Elvira said. “What if I find an intact imprint of a pirate ship? I would be famous. My name would be in all the history books.”

“It would be something,” Carlita agreed.

Elvira stopped chipping and took the flashlight from Luigi. “There’s definitely something in there.”

“Your treasure ship?” Carlita joked.

“Very funny.”

Elvira continued chipping, and Carlita turned to Luigi. “While Elvira works on the next greatest archaeological discovery, I was wondering…how well did you know Roxy?”

“She’s worked for Vito for a few years. Right after her father died, Vito promised to take care of her. She’s bounced around a few times.”

“Where was Roxy from?”

“Same as the rest of us. Queens. I’m sure your husband knew her. Then, she moved to New Jersey to help Vito with his casinos. She’s been there for a while. She was a tool, always suckin’ up to Vito. That’s how she snagged the job of guarding Brittney after I left.”

“As far as you know, has she ever lived in Georgia?”

Luigi paused as he contemplated Carlita’s question. “Nope. Not that I know of. Why do you ask?”

“During the party, she told Vinnie one of the guests looked familiar. It made me wonder if she once lived in the area.”

“Hey.” Elvira snapped her fingers. “Hold the flashlight up here.”

Luigi lifted it higher, and Carlita noticed there was an angry red slash on his inner arm.

“Have…have you talked to the cops about Roxy’s incident?” She tried not to stare at the mark and averted her gaze.

“I did. It was the other day, right after it happened. Both me and Ricco talked to them.”

“But not since?”

“Nope.”

Carlita’s mind raced as she mentally went over the timeline. It was possible the investigators had questioned Ricco and Luigi before discovering there was